The Autograph Contest

Pete Seeger is a pioneer of folk music.

Pete Seeger is also 87 years old.

With my newfound love of roots folk music, coupled with the fact that Mr. Seeger is in what I will call, "His Golden Years," I have decided to send him a request for an autograph, so that I can hang it beside my James Taylor, Billy Joel, and Willie Nelson autographed lp's.

That got me thinking...you know what would be fun?

HAVING A CONTEST WITH THE READERS OF THIS BLOG!!

I will call it, the autograph contest!! (How original is that!!)

The idea is simple: Tell me which artist (living, of course) you love, and if I can find their address, I will send them a letter and get something autographed for you!

First one to get an autograph back, wins!! (But, really, don't we all win, if we get back an autograph eventually?)

The rules:

1. Reply to this post with a list of 3 artists you love. I will send a request to the first one on the list that I can get an address for (I have my ways.)

2. Only pick LIVING artists.

3. Sit back and wait for the results!

I will post whenever a new autograph comes in, and best of all, I will send you the autographed item!! (There is no catch, I really will send it to you, I promise!!)

Ok, there is one catch...if I don't know you, please don't enter this contest, cause that would just be weird...

(Deadline to enter...March 2nd!!)

Valentine's Day

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day.

If you are like most men, you have either:

1. Not gotten anything for your woman.

2. Not even THOUGHT about getting anything for your woman.

3. Never gotten anything for your woman.

or

4. Need to blow up your woman.

Well, guys, fear not...I have a solution for you!!

I know what you are thinking, White Castle?!? (or that sweet white car there!!) But, look closer...

That's right!! White Castle is "Taking Valentine Reservations"!!!

As crazy as this sounds, I decided to go to the source for some investigative reporting, just for you dear readers.

First, I actually went to the White Castle, and I found a sign promoting the Valentine Special. I tried to take a picture, but a huge guy named Clyde hit me with a mop...wait, that was a lady?? My bad. Anyway, the sign showed a box shaped like a heart with several hamburgers inside.

All together now, AWWWWEE!! If that doesn't say love, then I don't know what does!

Next, I went to the website, where I picked up this little nugget:

"Make your Valentine’s day STEAMY!

Take your Valentine to White Castle on Wednesday, February 14 between 5 and 8 p.m. and enjoy hostess seating, candlelit dining and your own server. Reservations are required, so check the list below for participating Castles near you!

Special this year, you can also treat your honey to a romantic White Castle dinner in your home! Cupid’s Crave Kits include eight cheeseburgers, one sack of fries, two regular soft drinks, coupons and keepsake items to heat up your homespun romance. Now, ain’t that sweet?"

Sweet indeed!! Act now, seats are limited*!! And come on, doesn't a nice romantic candlelit dinner beat a teddy bear any day?? You can thank me later!!

*realistically, there are probably tons of seats left...

Goin' to the Fieldhouse

At the beginning of the NBA season, Becky and I discussed plans to get tickets for the Pacers vs 76er's game, as Becky is a huge Allen Iverson fan. In my typical fashion, I put this task off, even though it was one of the 3 things Becky had on her Christmas Wish List.

Before you go condemning me for not making good on a Christmas Wish, let me just say it was a darn good thing I didn't lay my money down on Sixers tickets. For those of you not in the know, Iverson was traded to the Denver Nuggets, which would have made those Sixer tickets worth bupkis. (Procrastinating finally pays off!!)

So, I decided to wait until a week before the game to get tickets via Ebay, as you can usually get them cheaper than through Ticketmaster (especially with all the crazy fees you have to pay to Ticketmaster.) I found some good, cheap tickets, and was pumped to see the league's two leading scorers hit the court on the same team, Iverson and Carmelo Anthony!!

Friday afternoon, I was psyched for the game...that is until I popped open ESPN's website.

IVERSON TO MISS ROAD TRIP BECAUSE OF BAD ANKLE

Oh, no, you have got to be kidding me!! (Could this be bad karma because I didn't get Becky the tickets for Christmas?) I called Becky to break the bad news to her. She wasn't as disappointed as I had thought she would be, but we were both still bummed. Like the troopers we are, we still soldiered on to the game.

It was Marsh Family Night at Conseco Fieldhouse, and Marsh had given out 6,000 dry erase boards. This normally wouldn't be too noteworthy, but keep reading, and you'll see how a flimsy dry erase board ended up providing us with a great laugh.

Soon after we arrived and finished our pretzels, the Pacer's mascot, Boomer, began making his rounds through the aisles, throwing out packages of "Boom Sticks" to all the little kiddies in the audience. I had to beat a little boy down to get a set for us. (Ok, truth is, with that big Boomer mascot head, Boomer mistook Becky for a kid and threw some our way.)

I think Becky actually caused 3 free throws to be missed with these things...a lot better than the snotty nosed brat that sat next to us did!! Anyway, the game was close most of the way, but in the second quarter, the tide shifted to the Nuggets for good when the ref (number 64, according to the back of his ref shirt) called a phantom foul on Jeff Foster. (I saw the replay, there was NO foul!!) The Pacer's coach, Rick Carlisle, went berserk, and #64 quickly gave him his walking papers.

The crowd booed.

Then, a couple minutes later, the Pacers called a time-out. Our back-up point guard, Darrell Armstrong approached the ref and was giving him the business. The ref took it in stride and held up his hand to take the ball from Armstrong, who promptly bounce passed it to a different ref.

BAM! Armstrong gets a technical. As he walked away from the ref, Armstrong continued to jaw and cuss...

BAM! Armstrong gets technical number two, which is all you get before you are ejected. Armstrong charged after the ref, but a couple players grabbed him. (NOTE: Armstrong ended up getting suspended for a game because of this, and post-game comments about the officiating.)

The crowd quickly rose to their feet. Boo's rained down upon #64 as he stood solemnly at half court during the timeout. This is where the dry erase board came into play.

A few rows ahead of us sat two boys, maybe 10 in age with the older guys. The one boy held his dry erase board up high for the world to see. Below is a recreation of what that board said.

Ah, from the mouths of babes. I don't think anyone in the entire arena could have summed it up better, than "F U 64." (I also liked the sign from another youngster that read "You can borrow my contacts." Priceless.)

In the end, 'Melo was just too much as he poured 34 points on us, and the Nuggets won easily, but a fun time was had by all. Hopefully, next time, Iverson will show up!

Oh, and as a side note, we sat about 20 feet away from Nuggets Forward, Kenyon Martin who is sidelined with some knee issues. Becky swore that every time there was a time-out, Kenyon would look right at her. We decided to try to get his attention the next time he looked, but, of course, he never looked over again, despite our yelling "KENYON!" in his general direction. I guess there wasn't a love connection after all!!

(Kenyon Martin)

We Are The

SUPER BOWL CHAMPIONS

INDIANAPOLIS COLTS







(I'm hoping to score some real pics from the Colts
return to the Dome celebration...will post if/when
I get them, and permission to post!)